Pope Francis Refers to Sex Outside of Marriage as ‘Not the Most Serious Sin’

According to reports, Pope Francis recently referred to sex outside of marriage as, "not the most serious sin". The statement came about when the Pope was asked about a French archbishop who recently resigned after allegations of a sexual affair were brought upon him.

The report says that the conversation began in a press conference where Pope Francis was asked about the resignation of the Archbishop of Paris, who allegedly broke the Catholic Church's celibacy rule.

Michel Aupetit was the French archbishop who had allegations placed upon him that he had engaged in a sexual affair with a woman who was not named per the report. As an archbishop, Aupetit was expected to abstain from sex. So when the allegations came out, the archbishop submitted his letter of resignation to the pope according to the report.

The report goes on to say that when Pope Francis was asked about Aupetit's resignation he said, "Sins of the flesh are not the most serious". Pope Francis went on in saying that Aupetit's failure went against the Church's sixth commandment, but was not a total failure. per the report.

Pope Francis pointed at "gossip" as the main reason for his acceptance of the Archbishop's resignation according to the report. "We're all sinners. When the gossip grows and grows and removes someone's good name, he cannot govern", Pope Francis was quoted as saying in the report.

The report says that Pope Francis rounded out his reasoning by saying that the resignation was accepted, "...not on the alter of truth but on the alter of hypocrisy".

See the report from @Complex via Twitter here.

The world of social promptly reacted to the report and you can see some of those below.